Friday, August 5, 2011

Today was a very hard day. Being our last day, it was both sad and happy at the same time. We were all feeling rather forlorn this morning, and so decided to sing each and every one of the songs that we learned this summer. It was our best singing to date--we've truly moved from cacophony to mellifluous in these five weeks-- and it took us an hour! There may have been a surreptitious tear or two, and no one complained. Then we set out to clean up the rest of the of the mini fair. After a nice snack we talked about what it might mean to appraise property. We practiced on an old village building called the Chalet. Then we broke into groups and set out to appraise each others properties. The appraisals were really fun because all of the houses and yards were in top condition. Some of us hadn't already taken the time to really look at each others finished product. When we finished, we met up in the peep loft where Jesslyn taught us about mean and median. A few of us were worried that this was a math lesson... it turns out it was and wasn't. The homesteaders agreed that rather than average out all of the appraisals for their properties, we ought to use the median home values to be more fair.

When this was complete we broke for lunch. After lunch we went back into the forest to retrieve our houses and to learn everyone's net worth. We went for a brief swim at this point and later regrouped for the auction.

Owen was an awesome auctioneer and made things feel proper, Jesslyn recorded how many snips and snaps everyone had throughout the experience so no one lost track. I had the easy job and modeled the items up for auction. The auction took a tremendous amount of time. When it was all over snacks were had, goodbyes were said, and we all moved on. Perhaps a bit changed from who were five weeks ago.

assessing the Chalet

Pilik's home

nicely furninshed

she even has a bath tub

Noname's home, on this lovely land

a good dry foundation

Jake's octagonal house

Dalton's home complete with fence and still

Blaze's home with large screen windows

Delilah's home

Violet's home

Eric's home

T-Rex's home

learning about mean and median

Thank you everyone for making Village '11 so incredibly unique and amazing! The best summer ever!!!!!

This was a very BUSY day, I know I have said this a lot, but today was seriously all work! We began our day on a very strict schedule, it was so strict in fact that we all agreed yesterday to sing just one song this morning. We sang the "Copper Coffee Pot" song... to set the pace for the day. There were homesteaders all over the place, finishing booths, setting up signs, making prizes, conducting experiments and setting up a peep wedding. Fortunately we were joined by Mr.Clark once again today. Having an extra adult sure was a big help!

We did working snacks and a working lunch, all homesteaders decided to forgo recess to make sure we were able to get everything done. When I said we were working hard, I was not kidding!

Once we felt we had gotten everything adequately set up for the fair and the wedding, all homesteaders and commissioners got dressed up for the occasion. There were many, many bridesmaids and many fake flowers. The ceremony was beautiful, as was the bride. It seemed like Bob Marley might not go through with it, but in the end her took Violet as his "lawful, wedded wife". The bride and groom put together a brief reception, complete with four cakes! Three cakes came from peeps, Mr. Clark also brought a cake to the wedding since he had one just hanging around! Wedding gifts were exchanged. Then back to business! It was mini fair time!

The mini fair was a HUGE success for something so small. Among the rides and exhibits were: a pirate ship ride, a pony ride, a ferris wheel, a brain scrambler, a circus tent, a swing ride, a water slide, a rocket ship ride, a trebuchet, a zip line, a poker table, ring toss, art booths, fortune telling, a box Mr.Peep T ring, a jousting ring, and many, many mini treats and refreshments! Much fun was had by all and a lot of visitors came to see what we've been up to for the past five weeks. My favorite part of the mini fair was the insta peep table. All people who came to the fair made peeps to come and play. It was some much fun for those of us who have been living in Petiteborough to meet so many new peeps!